Historian of nuclear weapons and secrecy, Dr. Alex
Wellerstein, discusses the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Specifically, the conversation focuses on the high level,
and highly classified, debates over how best to employ these new
weapons. From there, the episode segues into the inherent
difficulties of doing historical research on classified materials
and how that has shaped the historiography of the bombings.
(75min)

About the Podcast

A podcast by history nerds for history nerds (and everyone else too).
The AskHistorians Podcast features members of Reddit's AskHistorians community, as well as published academics, and experts for long-form 60-90 minute in-depth conversations about a topic of their research. Additionally, each podcast episode is accompanied by a thread in AskHistorians where the expert swings by to answer followup questions. Find us answering questions at www.reddit.com/r/askhistorians or on patreon at www.patreon.com/askhistorians